Mathematics
Maths Curriculum Aims
We want our children to:
- securely learn maths facts, concepts, rules and accurate methods so that they can recall and use those facts and methods efficiently
- confidently apply their maths knowledge in order to deepen their understanding and really master the curriculum
- have opportunities to express and articulate their thinking in different ways, explaining their reasoning
- think about problems, question their own understanding and make links
- communicate mathematically, give sound mathematical explanations, and justify their solutions
- to be resilient and independent, to not become discouraged when things don’t go right the first time and learn from their mistakes
Through our Maths curriculum, teachers:
- plan to enable all learners to make connections between prior and new learning and make links across different units of work
- plan opportunities for spaced retrieval to ensure long term learning
- encourage children to communicate their ideas and understanding orally, in writing, and by using a variety of representations.
- plan retrieval practice in maths, where pupils must try to remember without any priming or re-teaching from us because we want memory strengthening to happen. Teachers recognise that retrieval practice is a learning technique, not an assessment technique
We utilise the White Rose schemes of learning and resources along with NCETM mastery resources and Third Space Learning resources. We utilise White Rose schemes of learning because they make sure topics are introduced to children in a logical order and revisited throughout the year to encourage deep learning and ensure children have the foundational knowledge they need, before moving on to more advanced maths concepts and tackling more challenging number problems. The scheme includes a sequence of ‘blocks’ of mathematics including ‘small steps’ which are again sequenced in order of difficulty and dependency. We also recognise that just spending a good chunk of time on a topic doesn’t mean that all pupils will ‘master’ it the first time they see it, and that they need to see it again and again in different contexts and in different years to help them truly develop their understanding on their journey to mastery and opportunities to revisit and reinforce learning is also built into the White Rose schemes of learning. Teachers in EYFS also utilise the White Rose scheme for Reception because it underpins the Educational Programme for Mathematics (EYFS Framework 2021), enabling us to deliver a curriculum that embeds foundational mathematical knowledge, mathematical thinking and talk.
In our daily Maths lessons, we support our children to become confident mathematicians following the STAR maths philosophy:
See it – teacher provides an example, demonstrate or model
Try it – teacher and pupils work through an example together and then children practice on their own
Apply it – pupils practice and apply their new knowledge independently
Reason it – pupils explain their understanding
Fierte Trust Mathematics Videos on Youtube
In order to support parents and provide them with information about how we teach calculation strategies, separate playlists have been created for each type of calculation. Please click on the links below to access the playlists:
- Place Value - Trust Mathematics Videos - YouTube
- Addition - Trust Mathematics Videos - YouTube
- Subtraction - Trust Mathematics Videos - YouTube
- Multiplication - Trust Mathematics Videos - YouTube
- Division - Trust Mathematics Videos - YouTube
- Bar Models - Trust Mathematics Videos - YouTube
Subject Lead- Hannah Wright